The check-in clerk is waxing lyrical about the restaurants, the spa, the live music, the belly dancers … the pools, so many pools …

I’m bemused. Surely the Dead Sea is the main point of the hotel? Apparently not. Guests want a lot more options than just a patch of salty water to float upright in. They want summer pools, winter pools, childrens pools, infinity pools …

‘What’s the quickest way to the Dead Sea?’ I ask, since we’ve arrived late afternoon and it’s getting on for 4pm.

‘Oh just follow the path, go left, and right, then straight, you’ll see it,’ he says vaguely gesturing to the map. ‘We close it at 4.30 though.’
‘So, why can’t we go there after 4.30?’ I persist.
‘It’s too dangerous for guests.’ 
‘Ah …’

I’m none the wiser, but I guess we’ll find out why.

After dumping our luggage in the room, we do a dusk reconnaissance to get our bearings.

The resort is 6,000 square metres in size so it’s a fair trek to actually get down to the beach and the sun is quickly dipping in the sky. On the way, Chris is distracted by the Hydro Pool which he thinks may have hydro slides but the gate is locked and we can’t figure out how to get in. 

‘It must be part of Zara Spa,’ I say. 

People pass us on golf carts because the place is so large it warrants them. There’s even a funicular but it’s not working. Eventually we reach the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. So the sign says. But as Chris points out there are stairs going down further so isn’t that the lowest point? Maybe they should move the sign.

Down at the shoreline, there’s a square patch of the sea marked out by buoys where a handful of people are froliking about being careful not to get water in their eyes.

Apparently it stings like hell and has been described as like ‘acid burning your eyeballs’. You’re temporarily blinded until it’s washed out with fresh water. If you have any cuts or scratches you’ll know about it too. 

The pain is because the water is 33% salt, ten times more than normal salt water. I dip my hand in and lick a finger. Yup, it’s pretty salty. 

A couple of men are covered from top to toe in black mud. I’m not sure what that’s about but I guess it’s like the silica mud at the Blue Lagoon in Iceland that you can slap on yourself. A hotel staff member seems to be in charge of the mud pot and the freshwater hose. There are also newish looking showers and sun loungers set up. 

Chris suggests we come down early tomorrow after breakfast and give it a go. There’s an unspoken feeling that the Dead Sea is unpredictable and might be off limits if anything untoward crops up. And I don’t want to miss my chance, because the whole thing is shrinking. 

In the last fifty years it has dropped by 45 metres and is continuing to decrease by over a metre each year. You can actually see where the waterline used to be. This isn’t a climate change issue but a manmade one. The water flowing into it has been diverted for other purposes. The mineral extraction industry is another reason. And Jordan and Israel being extremely dry countries in general.

The next morning, we troop down to the beach again to actually get in. Even though it’s Jordan’s winter, the Dead Sea is warmish, 23 C according to the helpful sign we passed on the way down that indicated the temperatures of the various pools. 

‘You’re only meant to stay in for fifteen minutes,’ cautions the hotel staff member at the shoreline.

Otherwise what? I wonder. Do we explode like slugs? Ignoring the rules we stay in for a decent forty-five minutes. Nothing bad happens. It’s fun being able to float without needing to swim. But incredibly difficult to float on your front without feeling you’re going to pitch face forward into the water. 

Afterwards we get out, use the showers to wash off the salt and sit on the loungers. I bypass the mud mask as it smells a bit. It’s ten o’ clock in the morning and we realise that we don’t have anything else to do for the day.

We can’t go out and explore because we’re in the middle of nowhere, and only surrounded by other resort hotels. We can literally see the Marriott next door from our balcony. Hiking excursions are available but organised by the hotel because the landscape is rocky and steep.   

I’m beginning to understand the necessity of the Disneyland approach. 

The Zara Spa seems to be the logical choice for the afternoon, and at 25 JOD each to use the facilities without treatments, we figure it’s actually not that expensive. We each get a locker that contains a robe, slippers, a towel and a few other goodies. The outdoor hydro pool itself is 28 C and huge. It has various waterfalls, bubbles and jets to target different areas of your body.

Off to the side, overlooking the Dead Sea is an infinity pool with a row of individual Jacuzzi chairs. It’s fantastic.

We stay in the pool for at least three hours, and happen to witness an incredible sunset, until hunger drives us back to the hotel for dinner.

I can now see why the spa is the drawcard for many of the guests that stay in the hotel, a stay which may or may not actually include a dip in the Dead Sea.

In saying that, the spa does have an indoor Dead Sea pool that is 28% salt water and basically gives you the same floating experience as the beach. But without myriad steps, sand, mud and effort. The cheat’s version. If the real thing ever does dry up, there will be a remnant at the Zara Spa for anyone who doesn’t make it in time.

I’m glad that during our visit that we got to try both experiences.

The post The Dead Sea vs Zara Spa at the Mövenpick Resort, Jordan appeared first on etrip.tips.

We got off the bus at the main entrance to the property and walked down the picturesque tree lined driveway to the main entrance.

Being an historic building, there were reminders of yesteryear ranging from the steps allowing ladies to mount their steeds, to stone pineapples (apparently the sole surviving remnants of Strathbrock Castle) and even a dovecote where the original inhabitants kept pigeons for the table.

The reception area still showed signs of Xmas decorations and a welcoming fire in the fireplace illuminated a gingerbread depiction of the Manor House. Nicely done!

We navigated the check-in process without delay and made our way outside to one of the outbuildings to our room.

The room itself was a very comfortable size, decorated in sumptuous style. All of the photos on the walls were of the property, and the powerpoints featured USB charging points.

A bible had managed to escape the bedside drawer, reflecting perhaps the religious bent of the chain’s owners.

The bed was two singles pushed together, and apart from that the only quibble we had was that the curtains allowed quite a bit of light from outside in at night. I guess the positive side of that was that the paths were well lit for security purposes…

My Christmas present from Ange was the Indulgent Spa Break at the Houstoun which included room, breakfast, dinner and two 25 minute treatments. So after settling into the room we went for a scenic walk around the property before hitting the Vital Health and Wellbeing Club.

The grounds were smaller than I expected, separated from the neighbouring golf course by a small creek and a leap across the culvert. Given the muddy conditions I suggested we avoid the golf course and head to the Health Club for a pre-massage swim.

The Health Club boasted a good sized pool, gym, sauna and steam room (unfortunately under repair). We filled the time before our booked massages with a dip in the pool which was heated but not incredibly warm. Ange commented that when the weather was stormy or snowing it would be quite blissful watching it through the plate glass windows before heading off to the sauna.

It’s always better having a couples massage with your partner in the same room but they didn’t have rooms for two, so we settled for coincidental massages separated by a wall. The twenty five minutes whizzed by and then we left through the shrine/showroom for Elemis beauty products to get changed.

Somehow the deal Ange had booked also qualified us for a £10 credit for food or drink as well, so we elected to try a pre-dinner aperitif at the aptly named Vaulted Bar.

The bar was tucked away near the base of the stairs in the main building and featured a lovely fireplace which chased away the chill and a broad enough menu which allowed us to get a drink each and still not exhaust the credit entirely.

Dinner was a civilised affair. Served in the main manor house, we thought we would be getting the set menu, but instead got a credit towards the meal.

I got the salmon to start with followed by the fish and chips while Ange elected to try the goat cheese followed by the pithivier. We asked before finalising our order, discovering that the pithivier was a pastry, so it was pretty much a vegetable tart with a fancier name.

Every now and again the lights in the dining room would flicker slightly. Not much but noticeable out of the corner of your eye. Ange had been reading up on the history of Houstoun House and was aware that it had been a favourite spot of Mary Queen of Scots, seeing as it was less than an hour’s horse ride away from her home in Linlithgow Palace.

When she was beheaded the Woman House (where she used to stay) was locked and never used again. Until it was reopened as a Honeymoon Suite. I told Ange that I was sure it wasn’t Mary Queen of Scots haunting the dining room and playing with the lights.

Ange went down to use the bathrooms and came back with the tale that the hand dryer had mysteriously turned itself on while she was nowhere near it. I smiled and told her that if it had been Mary Queen of Scots it was good news because she obviously washed her hands.

We elected to share the sticky toffee pudding for dessert and they very thoughtfully gave us two puddings – I didn’t think that it was their standard serving and certainly appreciated not getting just a half share of one portion!

The breakfast the following morning saw us tucked into the corner of the dining room, the central table no longer having Christmas decorations but instead spread with a sumptuous continental breakfast.

Upon being seated we were asked what kind of toast we’d like and our tea and coffee requirements. Our waitress left us with the menu and let us loose on the continental offerings.

A little later she brought us our toast and coffee and took our order for the cooked component of breakfast. They very kindly honoured Ange’s request for bacon with her poached eggs on avocado toast and I smiled because I only got one rasher with my full Macdonald Breakfast and she got two.

Still, after the toast and the bacon, eggs and black pudding et al, plus a breakfast pastry, all washed down with plunger coffee and various juices, I fairly waddled back to the room, totally replete.

Just before we checked out, we asked which of the buildings the Woman House was and Suprina, who was on reception at the time, gave us a keycard so we could have a look inside.

The Honeymoon Suite was nice: only a little bigger than our room but nicer fittings and bathroom. The toiletries were Elemis like ours, just with more of them. The view from the window was lovely but I think the best part of it was actually being in a room where Mary Queen of Scots had been.

Would I Return?

If I was looking for a weekend away on the same deal that Ange got then I’d be tempted. There’s something cool about having dinner and breakfast taken care of and getting a twenty five minute back rub while you’re at it.

The pool and sauna are great and as the weather conditions deteriorate outside, the value of being able to watch as you remain warm and toasty inside increases.

The post Review: Macdonald Houstoun House, Edinburgh appeared first on etrip.tips.

But we had booked by phone already and they had charged us then and there so we knew our slot should be safe.  We could have gotten an hour in the Arabian Rasul getting covered in mud, but elected instead for three hours for £35 each.

Unsurprisingly, the Chapel spa is situated in an old chapel which has been repurposed to revitalise the body instead of the soul.

The Spa

We were greeted by name as we entered and were led into a lovely lounging area with comfortable couches and assorted magazines while we filled in out forms absolving the spa of any responsibilities for injury and assuring them that I wasn’t pregnant. Standard sort of thing really.

Then we we were lead into the basement, there was a gym well equipped off to our left, but it’s the main area that holds attention.

A hydrotherapy pool dominates the room, surrounded by a good smattering of recliners.

The chapel isn’t attached to a hotel so they don’t get the captive market that might entail, so everyone there has paid for the privilege. There are more people there than I would have thought would be on a Saturday afternoon, two pairs of ladies and another couple, all 25-40.

An open shower along one wall is matched opposite the entrance to the steam room and off the lounge in the floor above was the Arabian Rasul, along with four treatment rooms. And in terms of facilities, that’s it, apart from a drinks station. Doesn’t sound much on paper but on closer examination there’s more than meets the eye.

Hydrotherapy pool

The pool has a pair of six barrelled jets raised above the surface, and individual buttons turn them on separately. The force that the water gushes out acts like a masseuse, and with minimal movement you can get it to play up and down your back and neck and head. Delicious! If you stand just so, you can get both jets to play on different sides of your body. Decadence!

The jets are in the middle of the rectangular pool and at the rounded end are four seats. Each seat in the pool has a different set of jets under the surface: my favourite is the third one which has narrow jets massaging the lumbar area.

The entrance to the pool is between two bed like undulations allowing you to lay comfortably under the water. I notice nodules dotted on the surface of the bed and decide that they are to stop you slipping off the bed. I’m proved wrong when Ange finds the button which transforms the nodules into jets of water.

The buttons which operate the jets in the pool are almost hidden on the floor outside the pool, within arms reach when you’re inside, but still needing a bit of thumb pressure to operate.

The last jet we get working is a big one right in the centre of the pool. I think that one is just to agitate the water as there’s nowhere for anyone to sit in the centre. Or it might be for the person with the two massagers. Either way the various jets make the pool a fine feature of the spa. A sign on the wall indicates that there’s a limit of 9 people at any one time which feels about right.

There is a drink station beside the entrance with iced water in a pair of tureens. Alongside the tureens are a smattering of magazines with plastic covers to protect the covers from wet fingers. There are a good number of loungers and a stone  Buddha watches from one end of the room, a little incongruous in the basement of a chapel.

Steam room

The steam room is a good size and like with all steam rooms it feels a lot hotter than the equivalent temperature sauna. It certainly helps with any lung ailments.

Changing rooms

The chapel closes at 6pm, so as our session expires, we head to the changing rooms. The men’s at least is well appointed with showers and lockers and hair dryers and has lovely little touches like cotton buds for getting the water out of your ears and some black soap (plus instructions for its use).

Ange also took some photos of the women’s changing area.

All in all a lovely spa with good facilities. For our £35 we got a full three hour session and the staff went out of their way to make us feel welcome. Upstairs they offer the usual beauty treatments as well as massages and the black soap treatments. Maybe next time!

The post Review: Chapel Spa, Cheltenham appeared first on etrip.tips.

The hotel itself is a sprawling stone building with a view of Lake Windermere, and the spa has a lovely deck overlooking the ferries and boat hire places which do such great trade whenever the sun comes out. The spa deck also looks over the lawn area which serves as an outdoor bar area for the bar in the hotel.

The spa is made up of a large indoor pool and a sauna area which in turn consists of a sauna, steam room, ice room and an aromatic shower.

The pool is a great size and although a sign on the wall says its 30C°, it’s certainly hard to believe that when we’re in it. Maybe they mean 30° Fahrenheit I say facetiously. But the fun is actually to be had in the sauna area.

It’s always great when a spa has both a sauna and a steam room so you can select the humidity which you like your heat – although I can never last as long in the steam as I can in the sauna, it’s probably better for the lungs!

Right beside the sauna and steam room is the ice room and, as you may expect, it has ice – a pipe in the ceiling feeds a basin with a slow continuous slurry of ice and beside that is an ice cold shower – allowing you to choose to either take armfuls of ice and rub them into your body or else plunge into the icy water. Invigorating!

Hidden alongside the three rooms described is an alcove, tucked away and quite easy to miss. This is the aromatic shower which I only just glimpse on the way out. This has three buttons and a shower head, producing a cold and two different warm streams of water. I don’t really notice any particular aromas changing with the different selections, but maybe I didn’t leave them on long enough.

The changing rooms are well stocked with lockers and all the mod cons like hair dryers (not needed for me, but for those more blessed), and for me a nice touch was the bathing suit spinner – a centrifuge for getting the water out of your bathing suit. The changing rooms were clean and seemed in good condition.

Online reviews of the place are mixed and we certainly agree that the pool is chillier than we thought it would be. Communication could also be improved as we didn’t know that there was a gym onsite. We didn’t have any of the treatments, so won’t comment on those but the spa side of things was perfectly serviceable.

The post Review: MacDonald Old England Hotel & Spa appeared first on etrip.tips.

The Hotel Heritage in Brugge is a member of Relais & Chateaux – which is an association of over 550 independent hotels, all at the upper end of the market. It’s a very short walk to the central square and so is incredibly well positioned as a base for exploring all that Brugge has to offer.

Our luggage sounds like a drunken avant garde jazz percussionist on the cobbled streets as we make our way across the main square and down two side streets to the hotel. We’re far enough away from the market to be untouched by the crowds while still be close enough to not even notice the walk – perfect placement! We’re, as usual, too early for the room to be ready and I’m very tempted to ask how much it would be to add an additional breakfast to the bill in order to sate my hunger now. Instead we head out for a bite – there are plenty of cafe’s and restaurants nearby.

Room

On our return we complete check-in and head up to our room, no. 39. There’s a narrow staircase but we take the lift which would probably fit four people comfortably. Our luggage has already been deposited in the room and we look around taking it all in.

The decor and fittings are amazing – they wouldn’t be out of place in the palaces we’d visited. Everything is tastefully laid out and the furnishings perfectly complement each other. There’s a desk for working at, a table and chairs to enjoy a coffee at and a coffee and tea maker as well!

I can’t decide if the most stylish element is the chandelier or the retro looking phone.

The bathroom is dominated by marble tiles and a gold framed mirror, the toiletries are Durance and a full sized bath has your choice of rain forest head or hand held shower head over the top of it. So tastefully decorated! A pair of robes hang against the wall and some slippers are stashed under the sink.

The bed is quite amazing – so much so that they include a little card so that you can get a discount if you buy one from the designers.

The only thing that stopped it from being perfect was the blue light glowing from the air con controls – we couldn’t figure out how to turn it off and ended up sticking some cardboard over it so that we could sleep.

Facilities

We’re perusing the documentation for the hotel on the free iPad that comes with the room and come across a mention of a sauna. I must have missed that on the website, so I head down to reception to ask about it. The staff seem confused. Yes, there is a sauna they say, but it will take 30-40 minutes for it to be ready. Looking back I think that the sauna only gets used in the winter months and our request struck them as quite strange. I smile at them and say that will be fine – we’ll be down in 45 minutes.

At the designated time we come down in our robes and collect the swipe key for the sauna. We head downstairs in to the basement and find the gym which is surprisingly well equipped. There are even suggested workout times and charts of exercises. But we are here for the sauna!

We head further along and use the swipe card to access the room. It’s really well set up for such a small area – you wouldn’t want more than maybe four people in there at a time, but there is a sauna, a steam room, a shower complete with plunge bucket and a lovely relaxation area with loungers and water station. A pair of loungers at the entrance have foot buckets for warming up too.

We spend about an hour trying out the facilities and then head up to the top floor where we’d seen there was a sun deck. The deck again is small, but does provide a nice vantage point for looking over the roofs of Brugge. I’d imagine it would be magical in the winter, looking out over the snow covered roofs! There are some loungers there too and a coffee table with some newspapers – a nice place to sit and take the sun.

The kitchen is closed the night that we are there, so we head out to taste the delights of Brugge – something to keep an eye on if you plan to eat at the hotel.

In the morning on our way to breakfast we notice that someone has slipped a card under the door – indicating the expected weather for the day – old school charm!

Breakfast

In the morning we head down for breakfast. We’re not quite the only ones there but close to it. the breakfast room is again, straight out of a palace with mirrors and chandeliers and tasteful furnishings everywhere. It’s the differences that we start noticing after a while with breakfasts – boutique hotels don’t tend to have buffet breakfasts because there aren’t enough customers to justify having that much food out. So they tend to have chef’s who make what ever you like. The Heritage has both, and what a buffet it is!!

Your standards are there in force – bacon (with the additions of sausages, tomato and mushrooms), croissants, buns and bread with a million jams. Juices, cold meats and cereals as well as fruit salad and a million toppings for the cereals.

It’s the bonus items which stand out. A selection of cheeses. Bread pudding. But the pièce de résistance is a glass case housing three large blocks of chocolate. Small dishes in front hold more edible sized chips of each, but it was so weird to see so much chocolate sitting there for breakfast!

After we sat down the lovely staff member asked if we’d like anything else – some eggs perhaps or some toast. I say sure – maybe a poached egg – Ange gets some toast. I had noticed that there hadn’t been any eggs on the buffet table, I guess they’re all made to order!

Pros and Cons

Would I Go Back?

I wouldn’t need asking twice. It’s everything you want a hotel to be – and more.

The Hotel Heritage supported our Summer 2017: UNESCO tour by providing a complimentary stay. All opinions remain our own.

The post Review: Hotel Heritage – Relais & Chateaux, Brugge appeared first on etrip.tips.

Peering above the surrounding buildings we spot The Hotel in the distance after exiting the metro at Louise. The walk from station to hotel takes us past a veritable who’s who of high street fashion labels, and I’m beginning to think that we might be under dressed for such an upmarket neighbourhood.

The Hotel’s staff doesn’t make us feel that way, though they do apologise for the room not being ready, and so we deposit our bags and head out to investigate Brussels. The lobby is tastefully decorated and has an amazing light fixture which I gawp at before we head off out the side door.

Room

Upon our return we pick up our room key and head up to our room. The lifts are lined with a textured metal finish and I’m vaguely disappointed that we’re not on the top floor of the 27 available. Instead we’ll have to make do on the 24th, almost opposite the panoramic lounge which we’re allowed to use (which offers free refreshments), with a free mini-bar (!) and one floor below the gym and sauna. I’ve had free minibars before in Sharm and Petra, but never in a non-Muslim country, so I’m keen to see how much booze is on offer.

We enter the room and soak up the features. The blinds are down and the TV is on, its light cutting through the dimness. The TV has the lovely welcome message on it and we soon find the light switch to make the rest of the room visible. It’s quite a light switch!! After illuminating the room we take it all in.

It has an open plan bathroom and a toilet behind frosted glass. The mini-bar turns out to have a couple of cans of beer, some lemonade and a couple of mini-bottles of wine along with a couple of bottles of water, a can of coke and, this being Belgium, a bar of chocolate. Quite a haul!

The bed is huge, and feels great. There’s a lovely window nook which they have labelled “sofa niche” on the light remote and we’re just standing there taking it all in when I decide to hit the button for “Curtain Up”. Like a big reveal on some reality DIY show, the blinds slowly rise and reveal the amazing view to the northwest over the city. The tap and basin in the bathroom are very high tech and stylish, and there’s a sliding partition to provide some semblance of privacy. Definitely not a room to share with your boss on a business trip!!

With so many things we want to check out, I almost miss a really nice touch – in the sofa niche there is a collection of sockets for your electronics so that you can display them on the TV – a really nice touch so if you have movies on your laptop you can show them on the big screen without having to have the laptop right up close to the TV. And with such a wide selection of ports, you don’t need to have remembered your adapter either. Very thoughtful.

Facilities

We head across the hallway to check out the panoramic lounge and the free refreshments. I’m quietly impressed. While there’s enough food there to constitute a meal, the serving sizes remind you they’re just there for snacking. Club sandwiches, mini desserts and little mini muffins nestle beside nuts and olives , while the drinks section makes me nod appreciably.

Water, soda, beer and wine – pretty close to whatever you want is there. I grab a club sandwich and a juice and wander along, checking out the decor. The blinds are mainly pulled, obscuring the view and I pull one up slightly and soon see why – the sunlight streams in almost blinding me! There’s seating below the window and a large dining table as well.

In one corner is a bookshelf with a bunch of books and standing awkwardly in front of them is a pretty impressive telescope, pointing at the floor as if it’s embarrassed.

A small group of guests are engaging a staff member in conversation at the end of the room with the food – apparently one of the guests works for someone famous and regales the others with stories of his adventures. I’m glad the lounge is so large – at the other end of the room near the books you can barely hear him.

Before long it’s time to go back to our room and get changed into the robes and head up one floor to the gym and sauna. The gym is just to take photos you understand, but the sauna to partake. The floor-to-ceiling windows make working out almost appealing with the whole southeast end taken up with a really well stocked and spacious gym.

But it’s the sauna which we really like. You enter separately through the changing rooms and we each separately notice the sign saying to expect nudity from here on in. On the other side we meet up and explore. There’s a super shower outside the hammam (steam room), and opposite that is the sauna, which has great views out the window.

Opposite the changing rooms there are a couple of relaxing rooms complete with loungers and the ubiquitous green apples and water. We’re actually surprised that someone else is actually using the facilities – three other guests are visit while we’re there and we see three more exploring the gym as we leave.

Suitably relaxed, we head out for food. We did weigh up dining at The Restaurant, but for some inexplicable reason they had built the restaurant on the ground floor. I couldn’t understand why they didn’t put it on the top floor – surely that would bring in the customers? After dinner we head back to The Hotel and enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.

Breakfast

In the morning we head down for breakfast. It’s quite a spread. Served in The Restaurant, there’s a great selection of fruits, juices and hot and cold foods. Definitely something for everyone! My favourites are the meatballs and the juice shots.

I particularly like the little labels on everything and the fact that they have a gluten free selection as well. The restaurant looks out over a small lawn and on the other side of the tree lined fence is a park. It’s nice, but nowhere as nice as the top floor would be. Ange comes back from the bathroom with a photo of the amusing Gents/Ladies sign.

Pros and Cons

Would I Go Back?

Definitely! It’s a hotel where they make it hard to go sightseeing because the room is so inviting. If you want some company, go read in the panoramic lounge. Want to relax? Have a sauna. Want some exercise? Gym with a view. Everything you want or need, right in the comfort of The Hotel.

The Hotel supported our Summer 2017: UNESCO tour by providing a discounted stay. All opinions remain our own.

The post Review: The Hotel, Brussels appeared first on etrip.tips.

We’re sent up to the fourth floor for the Reali Wellness Spa and approach the counter, only to be told that they’re expecting a group of twelve in a forty minutes and that they would be leaving at 6pm, the spa closing at 9pm. We could have either of those time slots but they wouldn’t be lowering the price. I raise an eyebrow at this – 4 hours for €25 has become 3 hours for €25. I certainly don’t contemplate 40mins for €25. We make a booking for 6-9pm and head back into Venice’s heat.

At 6pm we head back and are welcomed into the spa and shown around. It’s very much like the Hilton Molina Stucky spa – a sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi and relaxation room. Tucked away beside the Jacuzzi are the showers with a bewildering array of knobs and dials. Ange and I look at them for a while and I tell her I have it figured out.

Ok then, she says, make it work. I make sure all the blue/red dials are somewhere in the middle between blue and red and then vigorously push all the knobs and buttons. Ange is simultaneously bombarded with water from a myriad jets in the power shower. She almost chokes on the water while laughing at the deluge and my ham-fisted approach to turning them all on at once.

Suitably cleansed, we immerse ourselves in the Jacuzzi and I start on my mission to find the switches for the jets. Success! Also like Molina there are two switches and they each control a different set of jets. The Ai Reali Jacuzzi is bigger though – you could definitely fit twenty people in there.

After twenty minutes in the bubbles, we decide to give the sauna a go. I find it hard going so after probably seven minutes we decide to see if the steam room is more bearable and head next door.

It’s not, so we decide to head past the rehydration station, with an excellent selection of teas, and outside to check out the rooftop terrace.

Wow! It’s gorgeous. I’m not sure if it’s because the sun is starting to set behind the buildings or because being on the roof away from the hubbub of the tourists and street noise, but the oasis on the roof is delightfully tranquil. We sit sipping our waters and gaze out across the city’s roofs – statues and plain terracotta roofs contrasting with those bristling with satellite dishes and TV aerials. A fitting metaphor for the medieval old world of the Venetian empire meeting the modern nation of Italy.

After watching the sun go down we head back inside for a final dip in the Jacuzzi before showering and getting changed. We only saw one other customer the whole time we were there, which really made the place feel like it was just for us.

The post Review: Hotel Ai Reali Wellness Spa, Venice appeared first on etrip.tips.

There is a station at the hotel but it’s not currently operational, so we have to choose which of the equidistant other stops to get off at. We decide on Sacca Fisola, which means we enjoy a stroll through a neighbourhood of apartment blocks where the locals reside, past a police station and across a bridge before coming into the Hilton complex through the tradespersons entrance and emerging beside the spa complex.

The staff give us a run down on how things work and we make the €20 payment for 2 hours before being shown the men and women’s changing rooms. They’re small but well laid out and the men’s lockers come with a free Peter Thomas Roth moisturiser and comb (not needed in my case) and the women’s come with free Peter Thomas Roth moisturise and conditioner.

There are slippers, a towel and a robe all neatly folded in the locker, and the changing rooms are adjoined by toilets, showers and a sauna. The staff had mentioned with a shrug that they have segregated saunas. I’m surprised that my slippers almost fit – usually it’s not worth even trying! After getting changed it’s off to meet Ange at the Jacuzzi.

There’s a shower in the Jacuzzi room, so a quick wash later we’re immersing ourselves in the warm waters of the Jacuzzi. It’s a reasonable size – you could probably fit 12-15 people and there are two buttons on the wall behind it. I reach over and give them a push. With a soft gurgle the jets spring into action and the water churns with foam. I look down – beneath the white foamy top, there are coloured lights which slowly change colour from green to red to purple to blue. Very relaxing!

Some of the jets come out of the floor, some from the lumbar of the seats and after about twenty minutes we’re interested in the other offerings of the spa. A short corridor leads to the relaxation room and a door off the corridor leads to the steam room. We decide to give the steam room a go and manage ten out of our target of fifteen before retiring to the relaxation room.

The relaxation room has about eight loungers and a cupboard with water, teas, fruit and little dishes of nuts. We grab some refreshments and settle down for some relaxation. The shutters are all closed keeping the room in the shade – but outside it’s another blistering hot day. We have a few snacks, rehydrate and snooze before going back to have another go in the Jacuzzi.

Before long it’s time to go and we fairly melt out of the pool and get changed. The spa isn’t huge, but it does have all that you would expect. The segregated saunas were a surprise, as were the free toiletries. While we were there I think there were one other couple there who left not long after we arrived (I chose to believe the two events were unrelated),  but the staff were friendly enough and I think we got good enough value for money. Well worth the vaporetto ride!

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Day Zero

Ange is good to me. She noticed that my flight into Budapest landed after the public transport stopped running, and suggested I book a taxi. A quick internet search later, I had pre-booked a cab with the promise that there would be a driver waiting with a sign with my name on it, and a private car into the city. Judging by the line of people waiting at the taxi stand, this was an inspired move!

The greeter had a couple of names on the erasable white board and I was instantly suspicious that they’d try to load more passengers into my cab (it was late, I was tired and grumpy). But no, I arrived and said which name was mine, and the greeter called someone on her phone and then told me the driver would be five minutes.

Three minutes later my driver came in, I picked up my bag and we headed to the Budapest boutique hotel we were staying at, the Milford Suites in the shadow of the castle on the Buda side. The transfer only cost €26 from airporttransfersbudapest.com.

Day One

After a relaxing night’s stay at Milford Suites, Ange & I headed across the river to Pest by metro and checked into Budapest’s Kempinski – Kempinski is Europe’s oldest luxury 5 star hotel group.

The problem with arriving late somewhere is that the following day you are exhausted before you even start, so we’d planned to take it easy and just do a Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour with City Sightseeing.

It was confusing which one to choose, with the number of routes, companies, tickets and add-ons making the complexity a bit overwhelming. One came with a couple of boat tours, a night tour and a discount booklet, so we decided that we would go with their 48hour pass, allowing us a bit of flexibility on when we went on the tours.

Budapest Restaurant – Boom n Brass

Decision made, we headed into the main square to have lunch and Ange saw a bargain out of the corner of her eye: three courses for €10 at the Boom n Brass. The restaurant is super touristy – right on the main square, but the food is good and we’re exposed to the Hungarian practise of adding paprika to everything.

The Esterházy torte for dessert is a particularly welcome revelation, with interesting layers of what we originally thin is bread but what I later find out are almond meringue dough.

Budapest Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour

After lunch we find one of the ticket sellers for the City Sightseeing company we had selected for the Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour and went to the office with her to get the tickets, and then followed her directions to the nearest bus stop. We stay on the bus for a full circuit – the funniest part is the stop at the Citadel: there’s some sort of traffic jam at the top so our driver reverses down from the carpark to the road at an eyebrow raising speed!

Budapest Synagogue

After the tour we go past Ange’s previous hotel – Arcadia Hotel Budapest – and head towards the Synagogue.

I frown at the time – it’s 5pm on a Friday and I think that means it will be closed for the Sabbath. Ange looks online and says that its open ’til 8pm each day so we carry on towards it. When we arrive the ticket booths are closed but there are signs up saying you can buy tickets online. I frown again because the entrance looks totally closed up.

We wander along the front as Ange reads further and confirms that it closes at 4pm on Fridays. Ah well. We grab a snack and head back towards the hotel instead, gelato for Ange and a pizza-style pastry for me.

Budapest Restaurant – Vapiano

We look online for somewhere to eat and find that the Italian place where we had turned up at closing time in Vienna had a branch just around the corner from our hotel here in Budapest. Ange loves Italian! So we head over there and the confusion starts.

First of all we go to the ladies at the counter at the entrance, as you would at any restaurant and ask for a table for two. They ask if we’d been here before and we, of course, say no. She says they’re a self serve restaurant and to select what you want from the menu, find a queue and order. Then she hands me and Ange a credit card sized card each, and then turns back to her coworker and continues her conversation with her.

Ange and I look at each other. It’s not often that I am just as clueless after receiving instructions as before, but we figure we’ll give it a go and see what happens.

We had been pointed to the only English language menu which was stuck on the wall, and so head over and select what we want to eat – carbonara for Ange, bolognese for me.

Then we watch other people at the queues. Above the cooking stations are signs saying what kind of things they cook: pasta or pizza. At the head of the queue are stations with a tray, napkins, cutlery etc. So you grab that stuff and tell the cook what you would like and then they make it there and then in front of you and get you your drink as well.

Then you swipe your card at a machine and that loads the bill onto it. after eating as you leave you pay the ladies at the cashier. I imagine that there’s some sort of security in place – I suspect if they opened where i was brought up, people would just eat and then “lose” the card and walk out. Before too long Ange gets to the front of the queue and orders her carbonara and even gets to select her pasta.

There’s a handy sign with pictures of the different pastas and they come in single size packets which the cook empties into what looks like a french fry basket and then dunks into a vat of boiling water. He then proceeds to add all the components to a wok and cook the meal right in front of us. So fresh!

A couple of days later we happen to be walking by and in the window I see someone making the pasta and then filling the single serve bags, ready for that evenings meals. It’s a different kind of set up – almost adding fast food ordering to Italian cuisine. I’m not sure what the purists would think!

On the way back to the hotel we stop off at a supermarket and get food for breakfast. I just can’t see how any breakfast could justify the €32 that the hotel is charging!

Day Two

The next day promises to be a bit busier and we have breakfast, check out of the Kempinski and store our luggage there. We’re in two minds of how to get to the Széchenyi Thermal Baths and in the end elect to take the metro instead of utilising the Hop-On Hop-Off bus. The M1 is the Millennium line – the oldest metro on the continent apparently, and the carriages themselves are quaintly old fashioned.

Budapest Baths Széchenyi

We eventually figure out how things work with the Széchenyi Baths – you get a plastic watch upon entry, plus a super-coat-hanger and enter the complex by holding the watch to a sensor on the turnstiles. Then you’re confronted by a line of doors – like priest’s confessional booths. These are the changing booths and it’s all unisex.

The booths have doors on both sides and little coloured wheels at knee height which tell you if the booth is occupied or not. Once you get into the booth and close the doors you see that the bench at knee height has a hinge and an additional piece which folds out. By folding it out you lock both doors (they open inwards) and at the same time on the outside the little wheels turn to show that the booth is occupied. Clever!

After changing you go through to the lockers, which are opened with your watch. There you store all your clothes on the super coat hanger which nicely fits into the locker. Then close the locker, hold the watch to the sensor and when the light flashes green you have a second to flick the little switch to lock the locker. Opening it is the same – hold the watch to the sensor and you have an instant to flick the switch to open it.

Then it’s around the corner to the towel hire place, where you can also rent robes, bathing caps and slippers. Finally ready to get wet, you head into a labyrinth of 18 pools – 15 inside, 3 outside, of various temperatures. Theres also a sauna and steam room. Some of the pools are the cold plunge pools and some are barely heated and are marked for swimming and you have to wear swimming caps.

The three outdoor pools are huge. The biggest is marked as being for swimming and a lifeguard stands watch, periodically blowing their whistle and motioning to people that because they aren’t wearing a swimming cap that they should leave. They love blowing that whistle!!

The outside pools have water features which pour water out into the pool, allowing you to stand with the water thudding onto your shoulders giving a lovely massage. One of the pools has water coming up through the floor so you can stand on the jets and allow your self to be massaged by the water. And one of the pools has concentric walls and a flow of water making a whirlpool effect. So there’s plenty of variation.

After we explore outside, we head through the inside pools. Whenever there are too many people, we just leave to find a more sparsely populated one. Our fingers are soon wrinkly and eventually we decide that we should head off. I think we managed to get to 11 of the pools.

Budapest House of Terror

We head back to the metro and two stops away we pop up into the brilliant sunshine and head towards the House of Terror Museum which housed the Arrow Cross Party during World War 2 and the Secret Police during the communist era.

Breakfast was a long time ago so we grab a snack at the cafe before heading into the museum. The museum itself is brilliant – well laid out and engaging exhibits. Its definitely worth getting the audio guide as the alternative is a lot of reading. The subject matter is rather dark and the fact that the museum occupies the same building where a lot of the atrocities took place gives it additional poignancy. Photography is not allowed inside.

It’s a bit of a relief to leave the museum and re-emerge into the sunshine – a relief which turns to wonder as a cavalcade of motorcycles rumbles up the street towards Heroes Square. There must be over a hundred motorcycles, accompanied by police and tooting their horns and revving their engines. We never do find out exactly what that was about…

Anyway, we head back into town and pickup our luggage and then check in to our  the St George Residence All Suite Hotel Deluxe Budapest.

It’s a bit of a hike from the bottom of the hill in Buda to the hotel which is right at the top. It’s a relief when we discover one of the elevators that allows us to avoid a section of steps. We only have time for the briefest of rests before heading back out, this time to catch the tour boat (part of the Budapest Hop On Hop Off Bus & Riverboat pass deal) at Jetty 10 in time for the 5pm sailing.

The City Sightseeing boat trip is supposed to take an hour, giving us two hours before the night bus tour to grab something to eat. We do manage to get some photos on the way, but it’s very much a mad rush across to the jetty.

Budapest City Sightseeing Riverboat Tour

We’ve almost left it too late and we arrive at the jetty after power walking across the Széchenyi Chain Bridge and along the river side.

With a sigh of relief we go to board the boat when the staff member checking tickets tells us that there is a regatta on the river so we may be delayed getting away – the last two tours have been delayed by 15 and 30 minutes respectively. Typical!

Even if we’re 30mins delayed getting away, we figure we’ll be ok with 90minutes to have dinner and get to the starting point of the night tour. We get on board and grab a seat on the lower deck. We avoid the upper deck because though it has unrestricted views in all directions, the sun has come out and is beating down quite ferociously.

I settle in while Ange gets up to go and get ice creams from the vendor on the jetty when the boat staff pull up the gangway and we set off, a mere five minutes after our scheduled departure time. Talk about mixed emotions: I’m happy to be underway, but… no ice cream!

The boat tour heads up the river, past the Hungarian Parliament building, around Margaret Island and then back to the jetty. We’ve made the turn and are heading down the Buda side of Margaret Island when we notice that the boat is driving erratically. The bow turns towards the island and the engine cuts out. Then it comes back on and the boat passes under a bridge and then starts circling.

We finally figure out that we’re in a holding pattern due to the regatta, but there’s no announcement or communication.

We sit back and enjoy the view, the sun and the calm. A whole bunch of other tourist boats are in the same predicament and I joke if any more turn up we’ll be able to walk to the shore by jumping from boat to boat. Half an hour goes by and then with a rush, the all clear is given and a different race develops as all the tourist boats head off at the same time.

Budapest Restaurant – Misto Bistro

We’re dropped off at about 6:45 and we figure we need 10-15 minutes to get to the starting point of the night bus tour and so head off to find the pick up point and then hunt down some food nearby. Ten minutes later we find the pick up point with not too much trouble, it’s on the far side of the Basilica of St Stephen.

A large open square is in front of the church, surrounded by restaurants, but we had passed a little bistro on the way and so after establishing exactly where the pickup point is, we return to the Misto Bistro and try their Tourist Menu.

Budapest Hop-On Hop-Off Night Bus Tour

And so on to the Night Bus Tour (again part of the Budapest Hop-On Hop-Off ticket)! We confirm with the ticket checker that we can get off on the Buda side, because the second to last stop is at the Citadel and we want to get off as close to our hotel as possible. We’re assured that even though it’s at night, its still a Hop-On Hop-Off bus so that won’t be a problem.

The bus is the same sort as we took for our day time tour and as it sets off we notice that the commentary is the same, and the route is the same. Sure, some of the sights are prettier in the night time, but we very quickly come to the conclusion that it’s just not worth it. If we hadn’t been using the tour as a trip to our hotel, we would have gotten off much earlier!

It also doesn’t help that the iPhones we use aren’t the best in low light, so it’s not like we can capture those few sights that are enhanced from the night time lighting.

Once we arrive at the Citadel I go down and ask if we will be stopping anywhere closer to the castle and am told that they’re will be an unscheduled stop right beside the Széchenyi Chain Bridge. I’m very happy to hear that as the funicular is there, which will save us climbing all those stairs to reach the castle level! Bonus!

Budapest Funicular

The funicular consists of two single carriage trains which go up the tracks on an angle. It’s a bit pricey, but I figure we’re tired and the last thing we need is a thousand steps right now. The views are quite spectacular also!

You get a choice of three seating areas and we decide that the first one provides the best views, so settle in and enjoy the ride up.

At the top of the hill we take a few photos and then head towards the hotel. We stop off at Fisherman’s Bastion for a few photos – at that time the ticket booths aren’t manned allowing us full access for free!

Day Three

Hospital in the Rock

Budapest is built on hot springs which manifest themselves in the many baths dotted around the city. But the water also carves out caves in the hills of Buda, making natural labyrinths which were turned into a hospital for World War II and then into a Nuclear Bunker in the Communist era. Unfortunately the hospital got a lot of use in the Siege of Budapest and then again in the Hungarian Revolution in 1956.

Unfortunately they don’t allow photography inside, but I guess the exhibits would lose their impact if you could see them online before going. It’s a great tour which takes an hour and takes you through both the hospital part as well as the nuclear bunker part. Our guide was nursing a sore throat, sipping honeyed tea as we went through, but it didn’t have any effect on her volume – no problems hearing her!

After we finished the tour we headed back to our hotel and checked out. We then grabbed a bus across to Pest to our next night’s accommodation, City Hotel Pilvax Budapest – one of the cheap hotels in Budapest that we’d booked because of its central location.  

After settling in we headed out to find something to eat – I had spied a burger place on the way in and so we retraced our steps.

Budapest Restaurant – Kajahu

We walk into Kajahu and again (see Vapiano above) aren’t greeted immediately and shown to a table. Instead eventually one of the wait staff spy us looking lost and pretty much tell us to find any vacant table. As we start to sit down I notice that the table has a screen under glass and a touch pad below it. I start to get an inkling how things work here. A silly grin sets in as I’m proved right.

 So you can order what you like from the monitor at your table and then the wait staff bring it to you. So far, so straightforward. The fun stuff comes with the additional things you can do. There are animated stories and videos for the kids, and you can do a grocery shop for you to collect at the end of your meal.

But my favourite is that you can chat with other people. You can type messages for broadcast to all, or you can use a seating map to figure out who you want to chat with and chat directly with them. The only negative is that the interface for typing messages is very clunky which would make conversing stilted.

Special mention must be made of the dessert – a cheesecake in a jar. The topping and base are as you would expect, but the filling is a party in our mouths – delicious!!

We head back to the hotel to do some work – only venturing out later that evening for dinner. Ange mentions she’s keen on some Asian food as we pass a cheap and cheerful place, but we go past until we are in the touristy area and are bombarded with touts encouraging us to try their bistro.

None of them have Asian food on the menu so we do the sensible thing and head back away from the touristy area and back to the original restaurant we had passed.

Budapest Restaurant – Aroy-Thai

There are lots of places for cheap eats in Budapest, as we’ve been discovering, and for our last meal in in the city we choose Aroy-Thai just around the corner from our hotel. I have the Pad Thai with pork and Ange has the Yellow Chicken Curry. Delicious, quick and reasonably priced, we really couldn’t fault it. So tasty!

Day Four

Budapest Baths Gellert

We had some time before I had to go to the airport for my flight back to London and we wanted to go to the famous Gellert Baths – primarily to contrast with our experience with the Széchenyi Baths. Both are served by public transport, but whereas Széchenyi is on the Millennial line, with what must be one of the oldest undergrounds still running, Gellert is served by a brand new station.

The changing rooms themselves operate on the pretty much the same system as Széchenyi with the exception that the locks have a knob on them that you push with the wristband/watch and so lock or unlock accordingly.

While the buildings are more impressive and the wave pool enticing at Gellert, I actually preferred the sheer number of pools at Széchenyi: I think there were more people at Széchenyi when we went and being able to spread them out meant that it didn’t feel quite so crowded.

I asked Ange what she thought given that she had been to three baths, and she agreed that Széchenyi took first spot for the same reasons I gave and then she put Gellert above Rudas because there were more options for pools – though she went on a women’s only day so was only allowed to go in the main pool.

It’s worth mentioning that we used the discount booklet that we got with the Hop-On Hop-Off bus ticket to get 500 HUF off each of the tickets to Széchenyi and Gellert, which we thought was good value.

 Before leaving we paused at the onsite cafe to replenish our strength, and then it was back across the river yet again for me to collect my luggage and for Ange to check into her next accommodation Colors Budapest Hostel.

I splurged on a cab for the airport which cost me £25. I was surprised that the driver didn’t speak much English, but we muddled through and he was impressed when I said kosomon (thank you) to him at the end of the trip. It was the only word of Hungarian that I managed to learn in my entire stay.

Would I Go Back?

I keep going back to Budapest – this was my third trip. It’s freezing in winter and boiling in summer. It’s got a lengthy disturbing history and an…interesting…approach to customer service! The prices are cheap and there are a million Budapest tourist attractions to do, so yes, I can see myself returning at some point in the future!

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We’d been lucky so far with inner city luxury brands (see: NH Collection Berlin), and the Kempinski was no exception. We arrived and the entrance was maybe 50m from the Metro station exit and we were greeted by an enormous revolving door entrance, which deposited us into the lobby. We approached the desk and checked if our room was ready, and were told that they’d check. We asked if someone would come and get us when they found out to which they agreed. We then went off to take some photos of the surrounds.

The lobby backs onto a bar and restaurant and includes a florist and ample seating areas – perfect for an impromptu meeting – lots of natural light and privacy.

We got back to reception and grabbed a seat and waited. And waited. I wasn’t quite sure what was taking so long and went back up to the desk to be told that, yes, our room was ready. Obviously a slight communication break down – I’d expected someone to find us when the room was ready. Not the end of the world. And so we headed up to our room.

Room

We’re on the fifth floor overlooking the park, and the room is lovely. Sumptuous decor and quality everywhere – really nice. The bathroom has the hotel’s name-brand toiletries and robes.

We look at the desk and the reading material includes a thick coffee-table style hardback book on the Kempinski brand plus a plethora of brochures and pamphlets. We already had an idea of what we wanted to do so we headed straight out for our Hop On Hop Off bus tour.

When we came back we headed straight back out to explore the central city’s food offerings. We’d briefly flirted with the idea of eating at one of the hotel restaurants Nobu, but the prices were at the top end of the market so went out to find something a little more our price range.

Spa

Upon our return from dinner we went exploring the facilities and stuck our nose into the health centre. OMG: talk about everything you could want and more! For a start there is a long corridor with about six massage rooms on each side, half with two massage tables for couples massages, half with just one. At the end of the corridor is the gym – not just a treadmill, rowing machine and a few hand weights – this had the full set up with multiple machines, multiple racks of hand weights, treadmills and exercycles all in front of full length mirrors.

Suitably impressed we headed back up the hallway to the pool, which is a decent size, past the relaxation area towards the sauna area and an amusing sign indicating that we were entering a “Sauna Nudist Area”. Inside are a tepidarium, three sauna/steam rooms (aroma, sauna and steam) of various temperatures and a foot bathing area with an ice chute.

Ok: we definitely have to try those out  – we nip upstairs and get changed and then head on down to try the pool. At one end is a giant tap like I had seen at the thermal baths, so I knew water would come out with sufficient force as to massage your neck head and shoulders, so i set about trying to find the button to switch it on.

I furrowed my brow and tried to figure out the puzzle. There was no button on the apparatus, so I spread my search further afield and lo: there on the wall near the entrance were three buttons. Stabbing blindly at them, the apparatus coughed into life with a powerful jet of water, but my attention was captured by a jet under the water coming out of the wall of the pool just beneath me.

I looked down and there were metal handles on each side of it: seeming to me to be for holding so you could force the jet to play along your back. Ooooh yeah – that’s exactly what it’s for and Ange giggles as the various looks of ecstasy play across my face. The pool isn’t hot – maybe best described as tepid, so before long we make our way through the relaxation area to the “Sauna Nudist Area”. I loved the little touches like the rack for holding your glasses while you’re sauna-ing.

We spend an enjoyable time in the sauna and steam room before retiring to the tepidarium which seems to me to be a pair of tiled, contoured couches in a slightly warmer than normal room. Very relaxing though, and it takes one of the attendants knocking on the window before we realise it’s now 10 pm, closing time!

The following morning we breakfast on muesli bars we bought at the local supermarket and then head back out to explore Budapest after leaving our luggage with the doorman. Upon our return we realise that they’ve switched off the revolving door and entry is now via a normal door within the revolving door – we’re momentarily nonplussed by the change!

Pros and Cons

Would I Go Back?

If I’m in Budapest and wanted a central (Pest) hotel with all the bells and whistles, I’d love to stay at the Kempinski. It’s a toss up whether to rave the most about the facilities, the location or the decor – I’ll have to give it to the facilities though – pool, gym and sauna complex!

The Kempinski supported our Summer 2017: UNESCO tour by providing a discounted stay. All opinions remain our own.

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